Jeolpyeon replaces baekseolgi as CU looks to repeat Dubai Chewy Cookie success

CU's pizza jeolpyeon, a convenience store take on the viral pizza seolgi trend. [CU]
CU's pizza jeolpyeon, a convenience store take on the viral pizza seolgi trend. [CU]

The convenience store industry is riding a tteok wave. CU announced Tuesday it will launch a pizza jeolpyeon — a convenience store spin on "pizza seolgi," a dessert that has been going viral on SNS. Pizza seolgi uses baekseolgi, a plain steamed rice cake, as a pizza dough substitute, topped with tomato sauce, cheese and other toppings.

CU's version swaps baekseolgi for jeolpyeon, a chewier variety of rice cake, as the base. The jeolpyeon is spread with tomato sauce and topped with mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, corn and olives. The approach mirrors how CU capitalized on last year's Dubai Chewy Cookie craze: when marshmallows ran short during that trend, CU replaced them with glutinous rice cake, bringing the Dubai Chewy Cookie phenomenon into convenience stores.

The Dubai Chewy Cookie rice cake sold out immediately after its launch on Oct. 15 last year, and CU limited orders to one unit per store starting Oct. 18. It sold about 1.1 million units in the fourth quarter of last year alone, with cumulative sales reaching about 2.8 million units. The product has remained popular this year, ranking fourth in CU's dessert category by sales.

"We will continue to monitor food trends spreading rapidly through SNS and add CU's own ideas to deliver new flavors and fun," said Kwon Yu-jin, a merchandise director on BGF Retail's snack food team.


siuu@heraldcorp.com